Thy Strong Word — Zechariah 10 & 11: Shepherd of the Doomed

Zechariah gives a stark image of this faithlessness. He tells of shepherds who value God’s people so little that their worth is calculated at a mere thirty pieces of silver—the price of a slave gored by an ox. This paltry sum, their shepherd’s wages, is then contemptuously thrown into the house of the Lord. It is a chilling prophecy of betrayal, revealing the heart of worthless leaders and pointing ahead to the one Good Shepherd who would be sold for this very price.

The Rev. Andrew Preus, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Zechariah 10 and 11.

To learn more about Trinity Lutheran, visit trinitynewhaven.com.

The Persian king Cyrus issues an astonishing decree: the exiles may go home. Among them are the Jews—God’s chosen people—whom this pagan ruler not only repatriates, but commands to rebuild the temple of the Lord. Ezra 1–4 tells of their return, the joy of restored worship, and the crushing opposition that brings construction to a standstill. Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah speak with God’s authority, calling His people to courage, repentance, and hope. In Ezra 5–8 the temple is completed, worship flourishes, and hearts are renewed in God’s Word. This series on Thy Strong Word follows the events in the order they happened, revealing how the Lord moves kings and prophets, overcomes opposition, and restores His people.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

Zechariah 10-11

The Restoration for Judah and Israel

10 Ask rain from the Lord
    in the season of the spring rain,
from the Lord who makes the storm clouds,
    and he will give them showers of rain,
    to everyone the vegetation in the field.
²For the household gods utter nonsense,
    and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
    and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
    they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

³“My anger is hot against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;^[a]
for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
    and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
⁴From him shall come the cornerstone,
    from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
    from him every ruler—all of them together.
⁵They shall be like mighty men in battle,
    trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.

⁶“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
    and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
    and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
    for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
⁷Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
    and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
    their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.

⁸“I will whistle for them and gather them in,
    for I have redeemed them,
    and they shall be as many as they were before.
⁹Though I scattered them among the nations,
    yet in far countries they shall remember me,
    and with their children they shall live and return.
¹⁰I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
    and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    till there is no room for them.
¹¹He shall pass through the sea of troubles
    and strike down the waves of the sea,
    and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
    and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
¹²I will make them strong in the Lord,
    and they shall walk in his name,”
declares the Lord.

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

11 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars!
²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled!
³The sound of the wail of the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of the lions,
    for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

⁴Thus said the Lord my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ⁵Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

⁷So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. ⁸In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” ¹⁰And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹²Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. ¹³Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ¹⁴Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

¹⁷“Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
    and his right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!”

Footnotes

Zechariah 10:3 Hebrew the male goats

Rev. Dr. Phil Booe

Native North Carolinian Rev. Dr. Phil Booe serves pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and host of Thy Strong Word on KFUO Radio. His parishioners probably think he can’t teach Bible study without a mug of coffee in his hand, and he’ll always be happy to eat a plate of sushi. When he’s not shepherding his flock or teaching on the radio, you might find him watching bad movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and especially binging RiffTrax and MST3K episodes. Some day he’d love to travel to the Lutheran homeland in Germany, but for now he spends time in Minnesota with his wife, son, daughter, and cat, and looks forward to Holy Week every year.